Fast Healthy Sustainable Weight Loss
Is it possible to lose weight both rapidly and permanently? Yes, indeed.
Recent research suggests that people who lose weight quickly are just as likely to keep pounds or kilos off as those who lose weight more gradually.5Moreover, preserving lean mass seems to decrease a persons risk for regain, regardless of how long it takes them to lose the weight.6
Therefore, for fast weight loss thats also healthy and sustainable, aim to lose fat without losing muscle.
In addition, several factors influence how quickly you can lose weight. Women typically lose weight more slowly than men.7 And because metabolic rate tends to decline with age, older women may lose at a slower pace than younger men and women despite putting in just as much effort, if not more.
Are you ready to start losing fat in a healthy way while enjoying delicious, nourishing food that prevents you from feeling hungry or deprived?
Below, youll find the simple steps to take to start losing weight quickly.
Sleep As Long As You Can Every Day
According to research, women who sleep for more than seven hours every night are about 50 percent less likely to gain weight than women who get five or fewer hours of sleep each night. But thats not allthe longer you sleep, the leaner you will be. One study found that people who sleep for seven hours a night had lower body fat levels than those who slept five hours or less per night.
The researchers concluded that better sleep leads to lower insulin resistance, which in turn helps us avoid stubborn belly fat . If you arent getting enough shut-eye during your busy day at work, sneak in a power nap on your lunch break or take a quick snooze before going out at night.
Spend Less Time At The Gym
Yep, you read that right. Research shows that if you sprint for 30 seconds, rest for 4-6 minutes, and then repeat that at least 4 times, youll lose more fat than if you jog or walk at a steady pace for an hour. Big-time savings! Try shorter-interval workouts instead of long, grueling runs. You can also do intervals on a bike, the elliptical, or in the pool — anywhere you can vary your pace and how hard you work.
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You Should Go To Bed At The Same Time Every Night
Set a sleep schedule. Make it something that you can do every night, even when you dont have to get up in the morning or go to bed early. Being inconsistent in your sleep patterns is just as bad as not getting enough sleep.
Your body wants to work on a schedule. However, you confuse it if you go to bed and get up at different times every day. Good sleep relies on you getting all the sleep stages in, and that doesnt happen if you are not consistent with your schedule.
The brain cycles through these stages all night long. Not keeping a schedule interferes with that process and affects the quality of your sleep.
If you tend to eat when bored, then make your bedtime an early one. That will help you avoid snacking just to have something to do at night. Once you get used to going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, it will become second nature to you.
Sleeping Early Can Prevent Late
Going to sleep earlier may help you avoid the late-night snacking that often comes with staying up past your bedtime.
Pushing your bedtime later means youre staying up longer, which creates a larger window of time for eating, especially if it has been many hours since dinner .
For example, if you ate dinner at 6:00 p.m. and you stay up until 1:00 a.m. every night, youre likely going to be hungry at some point between dinner and bedtime.
If youre already experiencing sleep deprivation, you may be more likely to opt for less nutritious options. Thats because sleep deprivation can increase your appetite and craving for high calorie, high fat foods .
Interestingly, late-night eating is associated with greater weight gain, a higher BMI, and decreased fat oxidation making weight loss more difficult (
31 ).
Ideally, try to limit your food intake 23 hours before bed. That said, if youre hungry, consider having a small, protein-rich snack, such as Greek yogurt or cottage cheese.
Summary
Poor sleep can increase your calorie intake by increasing late-night snacking, portion sizes, and the time available to eat.
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Stay Hydrated Throughout The Day
When youre ready for bed, avoid anything that contains high amounts of calories or carbs. That includes sweets like cookies or brownies or savory snacks like tortilla chips or popcorn. Save those for daytime eating only. A good alternative is low-carb veggies such as cauliflower and broccoli, both of which contain a lot of fiber and few calories .
If you really need something sweet to help fall asleep at night, try eating a banana with some peanut butter on it. Bananas are high in carbs but they also contain potassium which can help you sleep better at night because bananas regulate your bodys fluids while you sleep.
Avoid Using Your Phone Before Sleeping
Using electronic devices right before your sleep can provide negative energy and might become a potential distraction when you try to sleep. The blue light emitting from your electronic device can also hamper the melatonin production in your body.
This can result in you sleeping less, and the less you sleep at night, the more your body tries to make up for overeating.
Therefore, it is always best to avoid using your phone before sleeping. Instead, you should try reading a book, and switching off your phone before sleeping can also help prevent a distraction in the middle of the night.
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Sleeping On The Stomach Prone Position
Prone position, or sleeping on the stomach means lying horizontally on the stomach, with the head on the pillow or the bed. The prone sleeping position is generally considered to be one of the worst, due to its effects on the pressure points in the body.
However, this sleeping position has a lot of benefits as well. For example, it can be useful in the terms of lower back pain, or even if youre dealing with sleep-related obstructive breathing.
But, did you know that sleeping on the stomach can help you fight the belly fat? Experts believe that by sleeping on the stomach, the weight of your body puts additional pressure on the belly area, blocking the abdomen and preventing excess fat accumulation. However, to prevent the prone sleeping position from affecting your health negatively, we recommend the following
- Try not to sleep on the stomach for the whole night. It is enough to spend 2 to 4 hours in the prone position to achieve the slimming effects.
- Try to mix between side sleeping position and prone position. This way you will avoid chest tightness, breathing obstruction, and obstruction of proper blood flow throughout the body.
- While sleeping on the stomach, try to use a properly supportive pillow for the head and neck area. This way youll prevent neck strain and neck pain in the morning.
- If youre not used to sleeping on the stomach, we recommend you try lying on the stomach every night for at least a few minutes, until you feel comfortable in the position.
Cooling Down The Room Temperature
Apart from the sleeping position, other things could also help belly fat loss. One such this is ensuring that the room you sleep in has a cooler temperature at night. Cooler temperatures promote the loss of fat because it burns trying to keep you acclimatized to the temperature in the room.
This can help you lose a lot of stomach fat in the long run, and even improve the quality of your sleep. Cooler temperature makes it easier for you to enter deep sleep, during which the body performs all the metabolic functions, which help you burn fat and calories in your sleep.
More to know:
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Top Tips For Managing Weight At Menopause
Has reading this far made you depressed and discouraged? Dont be. While you cannot prevent menopause, you can prevent some of its negative health impacts through diet and lifestyle changes.
Remember, however, good health is more than simply a number on the scale. As we have noted in other places on our site, you do not have complete control over how much weight you lose, how fast you lose it, and what body parts you lose it from. Managing these expectations is part of long-term success. Make sure you read our guide on setting expectations.
Make A Healthy Weight Loss Plan
But dont expect it to happen immediately. If someone tells you losing 10 pounds in 3 weeks is possible, I would encourage them to set realistic expectations based on what we know now, says Hultin. Just because someone else lost 40 or 50 pounds in a month doesnt mean they did it without putting in the work.
No matter how fast you lose weight, however, youll most certainly feel like a new person after those seven easy daysand thats exactly why so many who begin Shape Up love keeping the trend going.
I am still trying to implement everything i learnt from WW into my life and get back down to my goal weight. The problem lies in me making healthier choices instead of the old habits.
I dont understand why Im always craving unhealthy options, but if i had something sweet or carb heavy available to me, Id probably end up eating it. Ive already learned how hard its going to be to break these bad habits once im stuck in them again.
Any tips/ suggestions on how to deal with urges to snack? Or any advice on a good book or program to follow??
When you’re looking to give your diet a boost, jasmine might be able to help. This herbal substance reduces appetite, prevents obesity, controls diabetes, boosts immunity, relieves depression, fights fatigue, prevents heart disease and protects against osteoporosis.
Jasmine tea is typically prepared by steeping dried white or yellow flowers in boiling water. Alternatively, add jasmine oil to smoothies or salad dressings.
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The Best Way To Lose Weight Boils Down To These 5 Principles
Whether due to stress eating, boredom or taking comfort in old-time favorites, many people gained weight in 2020. Sarah Marion, Ph.D., director of syndicated research at Murphy Research in Seattle, told TODAY in an email that at any given time this year, 53% of adults in the U.S. gave themselves a C, D or F grade on managing their weight only 17% gave themselves an A. And she said, 95% of adults think about weight management, at least some of the time, according to the firms research.
If youre concerned about your weight and want to make some healthy changes, there is a staggering amount of advice available on how to lose weight, but really, healthy weight loss boils down to just five basic principles. Use them to boost your chances of weight loss success in 2021.
Some dietary strategies appear to have more impact than others, so if youre attempting to lose weight in the next year, heed this advice:
- Eat more vegetables.
- Enjoy mostly whole foods.
- Limit the amount of added sugars and processed foods youre eating.
What About Severe Calorie Restriction
What if you eat only 500 or 600 calories a day? Although drastically cutting calories can cause rapid weight loss, consuming far less than your body needs can be counterproductive.
Severe calorie restriction can make you feel extremely hungry, deprived, and fatigued. Whats more, it often leads to loss of muscle, or lean mass.2
Generally speaking, the more lean mass you have, the more calories your body burns at rest.3 Loss of muscle during very-low-calorie dieting can slow down metabolism, making future regain much more likely.4
So fast weight loss via severe calorie restriction may not be a good idea for many people.
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Sleeping Position: With One Leg Up
Hiking one limb higher higher, as in closer to your head, not elevated vertically) while you snooze isn’t giving you a leg up on your health. Opting for the “horizontal tree” sleeping position, where one leg is bent higher than the other , may do more harm than good.
“Having both legs up during sleep would pull weight off the pelvis, and could potentially help someone with low back pain, but one leg up may do the opposite,” says Breus. The uneven displacement of pressure on one limb versus the other may cause back damage down the road. Tl dr one of the best sleeping positions for someone with lower back pain is double legs in, never one.
Score Better Sleep: If you do find yourself waking in the middle of the night with your right or left leg curled up toward your stomach, try placing a pillow between your legs, suggests Robart. “Not only does it take pressure off your pelvis, but it can also help stabilize the leg that keeps moving upward during sleep.”
Protein How Help To Lose Weight
Fast is the building block of muscle mass. It’s the most important macronutrient for building lean muscle tissue especially after working out. Protein foods include dairy products such as milk, yogurt, cheese, eggs, meat, poultry and seafood.
| image source by | unsplash.com |
Good sources of plant based protein include beans, brown rice, soybeans, peas and nuts. When possible, aim to get about 10%-35% of your total calories from protein, although this percentage varies by age, sex, size, and physical activity level.
Eat breakfast. Studies show that people who have an early breakfast consume fewer calories throughout the rest of the day compared to those who skip the meal. The best part? Skipping breakfast doesn’t mean wasting away over night!
While there’s no doubt that losing weight is difficult, it’s actually quite rewarding when you start seeing the numbers on the scale go down. Not only will your confidence shine through, but you’ll be happier overall since you feel better about yourself and what you’ve accomplished.
Caffeine can make you feel bloated. Caffeine triggers the release of hormones called epinephrine and norepinephrine which create feelings of fullness.
Stay hydrated. Staying well-hydrated can help reduce bloating, aid in digestive function, and keep your waistline trim. Drink plenty of water while eating meals. Wait at least half hour before drinking anything else.
To prepare for tests, try these three steps:
1. Reduce stressors.
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The Best Sleeping Position: Back
If back-sleeping is your position of preference, you’re scoring more benefits during shut-eye than you’d think. “Your head is facing straight up and weight is evenly distributed on your spine,” making it the most orthopedically sound position, says Michael Breus, clinical psychologist and author of The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan: Lose Weight Through Better Sleep. And unlike when your face is buried in a pillow, sleeping on your back allows gravity to pull down on your face and chest, which is beneficial for those suffering from acid reflux. With your head slightly elevated, your stomach sits below your esophagus so acid and food are far less likely to come back up.
But snorers, beware: Lying on your back is NOT the best sleeping position for sleep apnea in fact, it’s the worst sleeping position if you suffer from the condition. “Your throat and belly are being pulled down by gravity, making it harder for you to breathe,” explains Andrew Westwood, assistant professor of clinical neurology at Columbia University Medical Center. “If you get pushed by your bed partner, that snoring goes away.”
Score Better Sleep: Unless you’re a habitual snorer, back-sleeping the best sleeping position someone could choose for optimal health and day-to-day physical comfort.
Diet And Exercise Aren’t The Only Things Needed To Lose Weighta Good Night’s Sleep Is Key Too
l i g h t p o e t/shutterstockQuickwhats the best way to lose weight? If you said diet and exercise, youre on the right track. But as it turns out, theres a super effective method for burning fat, and youre already doing it every day. In fact, the key to burning fat is so easy that you could do it in your sleep
One of the biggest mistakes that most people make is not sleeping enough, Shawn Arent, director of the Center for Health and Human Performance at Rutgers University, told Business Insider. Here are 9 more ways to lose weight in your sleep.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, your body repairs itself by releasing growth hormones while you sleep. Those hormones stimulate muscle and protein synthesis, as well as a fat breakdown process called lipolysis. Youll practically burn fat in your sleep if you eat this one food at night, too.
Since growth hormones tend to peak at night, not getting a good nights sleep cuts that essential process short. Research shows that only getting four or five hours of sleep a night can lead to obesity down the road. Here are even more of the worst habits for belly fat.
The solution? Ideally, you should sleep seven to nine hours per night to keep your body burning fat while you snooze.
The National Sleep Foundation generally recommends that adults sleep for seven to nine hours every night, in order to wake up refreshed and alert for the day ahead. Next, read about these tricks to flatten your belly without a lick of exercise.
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